USF Takes on Notre Dame

Coach Prado and company could see their list chances at making the Big East tournament end this weekend.

After being swept by the UCONN Huskies, the Bulls will hit the road again to take on Notre Dame in a big series against the Irish.

The Bulls were out slugged and out pitched in the sweep to UCONN. The Huskies showed why they are the number one team in the Big East and what is wrong with USF. The Bulls could score enough runs and the pitching got knocked around as the Bulls slipped to a 5th place tie with Louisville and Cincinnati (Big East isn't a powerful baseball conference either, this is not good). [keep reading]

The Bulls now travel to South Bend for a big 3-game series that will either make or break their season (if UCONN didn't already do that to us). The Bulls are led by Randy Fontanez who continues to be the best and most reliable pitcher for Coach Prado. He is now 5-4 as the team continues to struggle to score runs in support of him. Fontanez is throwing everything he has in his final season as a Bull and is hoping to at least get another win before it is all over. 3rd baseman Jonathan Koscso is another player that is still hitting well (.324 on the year, only player over .300). He has played solid defense all season and continues to hit well from the leadoff spot. The Bulls will need him to get hits and get on base early in the series if they hope to manufacture some runs.

Notre Dame is another team that is treading water in the conference, hoping to make a move and the Bulls could be that target. The Irish are 18-25 (9-11) on the season and 8-8 at home this year. They sit in 10th place in the Big East, but they are only a half game out from the 8th spot, Seton Hall.

The Bulls are in 5th place right now and hanging on to life support at this stage of the season. Notre Dame is looking to get a few wins this weekend and if they do so, they could punch their tickets to Clearwater, while the Bulls watch from home, the tournament they host. Only the top 8 teams in the conference go to the Big East Tournament so the pressure is on USF right now to get the wins and beat the teams they are suppose to and get to the tournament that is in their backyard.

Notre Dame is led offensively by Trey Mancini who is hitting .342 on the season (better than any USF hitter) with 7 homeruns, and 28 RBI. Herman Petzoid is hitting .296 on the season with 1 homerun, and 18 RBI. Finally, Eric Jagielo is hitting .256 on the season with 2 homeruns and 17 RBI. The Irish aren't a powerful team, but they play a similar style to USF, getting runners on base, moving them and manufacturing runs. They will get hits and can run as well, putting more pressure on the USF pitching staff.

On the mound, ND is led by Cole Johnson who is 4-6 on the season. He has an ERA of 2.50 and holds opponents to a batting average of just .204 against him, making it tough for any Bull to get a hit (like we need anything else to stop us from scoring runs). The other pitcher to watch is Brian Dupra who is 2-5 on the season with a 2.57 ERA, but opponents do hit .292 against him, so there is a bit more hope when he is on the mound that the Bulls will actually score a run.

The first game of the series is scheduled for 7:05 PM Friday, game two on Saturday at 2:05 PM, and the finale on Sunday at 1:05 PM.

This is pretty much do or die for the Bulls. Losing 2 out of 3 in this series would pretty much end any chances to making the Big East tournament, only sweeping would give them any hope or build their confidence. But after the way they played against UCONN, hope is dim right now for the Bulls. Realistically, the team is better than Notre Dame and should win 2 out of 3 games on the road, but the Bulls have been under achieving all year and they seem to be limping home at this point. Maybe they can get something done at Notre Dame, but I am not confident.